Better than expected day

I woke up around 2:30. I drank some water and went back to bed. I heard Chris' alarm go off at 4:30. He got up a little later and went to the gym. I got up a little after 5. I washed up, got dressed, made breakfast and hot tea. I put the visa application packets in my bag and got money to pay for them. I checked e-mail. Chris came back from the gym just as I was finishing. I packed some snacks and put the tea in a water bottle. Then I bundled up. We got in the car and drove to Myra's parking lot. She came out and joined us. Chris drove us out in town to the bus station by McDonalds. We got out and he went back to base. The lady who sells bus tickets was not yet at her stand. I pulled money out of my wallet. Myra asked the first bus to come by if he went to Busan, but he just shut the door in her face. But the next bus did not pull up to the bus stop. Thankfully the light was red so he stopped at the intersection. Myra asked him about Busan and I guess he nodded. I handed him the fare for both of us and we got on. It was 7am. We rode the bus to Busan, which was not exactly a direct route, but we got to the first stop in just under an hour. We got off at Hadon. From there we were able to get a taxi. I told him we wanted to go to Ipark. I showed him the map on my phone. Then he nodded. And though it was on the other side of Busan, we were there in 40 minutes. I paid him about 25,000 won. Myra and I stood in the wind, looking for a building number. We decided to go in and ask at the coffee shop on the first floor. We were in the right building and when we got to the 5th floor, the Chinese visa application center was right there. They did not open until 9. So we went downstairs and walked around, stopping at a convenience store for coffee. Then we went back up. I walked in and a young lady immediately came forward to help me. I showed her the packets. She thumbed through them and then asked to see the plane tickets for the trip. I had to call Chris. He put the information in a pdf and e-mailed it to me. The lady had a computer which she set to Yahoo for me so I could pull up my e-mail. When the pdf from Chris came through, she printed it and added that to the packet. She had a few other questions, too, but we got through them. She indicated the last stamp on my passport and asked if that was the last time I entered Korea. It wasn't but there was no stamp for when I came back from Japan. I wasn't sure what to say. She also insisted on a contact in Korea so Myra assented to that. I did not point out that she would be gone at the same time we were. Then she passed all my info to another lady. I sat with Myra to wait until called. The other lady insisted on seeing my Korean Identification card, which obviously I don't have. She made me write on the applications that US military don't need Korean ID cards. She said the visas would be ready by Friday. A sign on her desk indicated that they had a postal service so I asked if the visas could be mailed and she said yes. (The sign also indicated that Americans pay 190,000 won while all other nationalities pay 55,000 for a Chinese visa). For the visas to be mailed she needed our address. So I called Chris again and he promised to call me back. The lady gave me a form with a small space to write the address on. I waited with Myra in the seating area for some time, then called Chris back. He had just e-mailed me the information. But the computer was in use by someone else. So Chris read me the English version. It was 8 lines long! He could not read me the Korean version. I tried to access my account through my phone but that did not work. Thankfully Myra was able to do it on her phone. So I went back to the lady and showed her Myra's phone. The lady wrote the Korean address on the paper. She explained that on Friday she would call and give me an account number to which I must transfer the payment. She could not take cash.

And then we were done. All in all it went well. We walked around the second floor to see the market which looked like Fresh Market. There were small stands selling artisan teas, etc. We both bought some stick cinnamon that smelled so good. Then I bought a package of dehydrated pumpkin chips and one of purple sweet potato chips. Then we asked around where to find the subway station. We were told it was too far to walk in this weather. It was windy and cold but not too bad. We walked three blocks to the station and went underground. We rode the train to Seomyung and transferred to the orange line where we returned to Hadon. When we came out of the station, we could not find the bus stop. We walked up and down both sides of the street. Eventually we did find it, but we must have walked by it once or twice. I bought tickets and we waited for the bus. This time it was labeled for Jinhae. It got us there in 35 minutes. We got off at McDonalds and started walking. We stopped at a corner grocery store where I bought pomegranates, mushrooms, cucumber and zucchini. Then we made our way to the base. I walked Myra home and continued up the hill to our house. I checked e-mail and tried the snacks I bought. I put away the food. I ate a pomegranate and listened to the first tapping audio for today. I fell asleep on the couch. Chris came home from work. He was tired and not feeling well. He ate supper and we watched one episode of Merlin before he went to bed early. I posted the new sewing project to the community Facebook page. I stayed up to listened to the rest of the tapping audios and read e-mail. I watched a video on Muslims in Britain preaching extremist views. Then I posted to my blog, tired enough to go to bed.
* The convenience store sells shrink-wrapped chicken legs. On the second floor is an artisan market. *

Unexpected turn of events

Last night I tried to join the edges of my binding before I went to bed. It did not go well. I did it twice, then gave up and went to bed.
I got up a little before 8. Chris had come back to bed, coughing and I was afraid I would catch whatever it was. I put hydrogen peroxide in my ears and on my toothbrush. Then I swished while preparing coffee and doing my exercises. Chris left for work. I emptied the dishwasher and was enjoying my coffee morning all to myself, when Chris came home for lunch at 11. He was early and he wanted me to go to Busan tomorrow to submit visa applications for China. My mind was on other things, meditation and tapping. I had to reorient my attention to hear what he was saying. It did not sound like something I wanted to do. But I agreed. I finished up my coffee morning while he had lunch and returned to work. I cleaned both bathrooms and the kitchen. I checked e-mail. I joined the ends of the binding of my quilt. It went better this time. I still had to do it a second time to get it right. But then I was able to sit and finish it while listening to the first tapping audio for today. The second audio was problematic. It loaded only a few seconds of dialogue per minute. I tried it on the other laptop and got the same result. So I gave up on it. I called Myra to see if she wanted to go for a walk, but she was busy with her quilt. I ironed the binding on my quilt and examined it for loose threads. I pinned one part which I thought could use more quilting. I took my book and headed for the trail. As I walked, I saw a golf cart coming toward me. It was Scott and Ray. I stopped to talk to them and then got out of the way so they could drive by.
I walked to the first exercise station and read a few pages. Then I walked up the steep part, and across and down to the third exercise station. I sat in the sun and read quite a few pages. At one point I could smell cigarette smoke, but could not see anyone anywhere. Finally I walked home. I called Myra on the way and asked if she would like to come to Busan with me. She suggested that Ms. Kim could do it on post. So I walked down there, but she was gone for the day. I went home. I called Chris and he said that Ms. Kim only did Korean visa things. Myra texted me a picture of her quilt which was finished. I told her that Ms. Kim could not help. Myra told me that tomorrow is her anniversary. Scott reminded her that there are demonstrations in Busan so it might not be safe for two American women to be traveling there. I called Chris and he said the Chinese visa application place was not near the demonstrations. I took some time to tap on my most bitchy thoughts and nearly fell asleep. When Chris came home, he left the application packets on my laptop for me to review. As I looked through them, I found errors and omissions, which I pointed out. He corrected them on his computer. I also saw that expedited applications had to be made by 11:30. I looked up the address online. I cross-referenced it with the subway map. It was reportedly a three hour trip.
I had invited Terri to come along as well, so I called her to see if she could make it, and she could not. Then I called Myra. We decided we needed to leave earlier than expected. To catch the 7am bus to Busan, I asked Chris to drive us there at 6:45am. Neither Myra nor I were excited about getting up that early. And weather.com was not projecting a warm day. Chris went back to work to print out new corrected pages while I ate my supper (bean soup) at 9pm. Then I finished the tapping audio that had finally loaded. Chris went to bed. I did the tapping meditation for Day 7. Then I wrote up my blog post and got ready for bed.
* This is Myra's finished quilt.*

Bound to be finished tomorrow

The lady who talked about geopathic stress two days ago suggested in her interview that putting aluminum foil under the bed would help determine if the bed was in a bad spot. So I put some under there and slept well. Coincidence?
I vaguely heard Chris get up. After he left for church, I got up. I saw that he left me his empty oatmeal container. I used it to replace the one I was using to store my daily allotment of nuts. I drank lime water and checked e-mail. I listened to the Day 5 tapping meditation. I took a shower and got dressed for church. I listened to the Day 6 interviews until Chris came home. I put on my shoes and coat and walked out to the car.
As we passed Dynee's house, her door was open. But we could see them pulling out of the parking lot, so Chris closed their door. Then they pulled up to the curb and cleaned the windshield and put up seats in the back. We exchanged a few words, then got in our car and Chris dropped me off at the chapel. The bell was already ringing.
I went inside and sat in my usual place. Ms. Pae was right next to me. The back pews on the right were full of marines here for the exercise. As we sang the opening praise songs, Dynee and her husband came and sat with me. The chaplain welcomed the marines and the people watching the service live on Facebook. We had a reading from Exodus and the sermon. After church, I went to the restroom. I found Chris in the snack room. We walked to the commissary to get his car. I drove us home where I changed my shoes and then we went back, just in time for it to open at noon. We selected food for the week and did not run into anyone we knew. Chris let me drive home. I remarked that our neighbors were not home yet, and Chris said she and Anna went on a trip with some of the other ladies. We took our food inside and put it away. Then Chris drove the car to work.
I sat with my quilt, listening to today's tapping audios and working on the binding. When I ran out of thread on the 4th side, I stopped. The ends of the binding needed to be joined before I could finish. It was a sunny day so I called Myra to see if she wanted to go walking. But she was busy taking care of her husband. She said Anna had stopped by with soup and invited her to go with them to the market. I wondered why they hadn't invited me. I opened all the windows and turned off the heat to air out the house. Then I went for a walk by myself. I took a book along. I stopped at the first exercise station to read. It was quite pleasant. But then my phone rang. It was Chris calling to get my license number, which was at home. I promised to call back. I read a little while longer, then walked home. I called from the house with the license in my hand and read him the number. Then I sat out back to read. It talked about the diseases that certain vitamin deficiencies caused. I decided to take some vitamin C. Then I sat on the overstuffed chair to read. But reading was much harder inside. Chris came home. He started cooking something on the stove. I read some more, then put the book down. We had a Netflix movie sitting around that I did not know about, so I put it in the player to watch. It was called Me Before You. Neither of us remember putting it in our queue. Chris sat down to watch it with me. It was pretty good. He made himself supper and I made a salad. He asked me to make banana cookies because the bananas were so very ripe. So I did, mixing the oatmeal, eggs and bananas with my hands. I had to ask Chris to add other things like cinnamon, sunflower seeds, pecans, etc. Then I formed cookies as best I could with all the stickiness. Chris looked to see if there was anything mindless with explosions to watch on Netflix. He wanted a day off from Merlin. I offered him a mindless activity but he wanted to watch TV. I washed my hands and put the cookies in the oven and set the timer. Chris pulled up Blacklist because our neighbor had recommended it. It was an interesting premise, but there was a gory scene in the first episode. When we watched a second episode, there was another gory scene. At the beginning of the third episode, someone was gunned down from all sides. I told Chris I didn't want to watch it any more. When that episode was over, Chris went to bed. I stayed up to blog.
* Here is a pic from the quilt show in Tokyo. *

Almost done

I woke up early because Chris got up, but he did not go workout. So I went back to sleep. Later he got up to read e-mail and play on his laptop. I forced myself to get up about 8:15, fearing it was much later. Michele had said she wanted to skype us at 8:30. It came and went. But then she called and Chris conferenced me in so we could each speak from our own laptop. She wanted to talk about looking for a house to buy when Marie leaves. We had a nice long chat about lots of things, including the large, stuffed dolphin on her head.
After the chat, I made and ate breakfast while listening to the two newest tapping audios. Then I went for a walk down the trail. This time I went the long way. Chris stayed home to do the taxes. I wrote a check, my last one. Yikes. I watched Day 3 of the Thyroid Secret while doing Sudoku puzzles. Chris roasted brussels sprouts in the oven. I had a few of those and also heated up a bowl of bean soup. I added some rice and broccoli. Then I read more e-mail. I looked at acupressure mats on Amazon. Some people swear by them and others swear at them. I listened to the songs for Sunday. I listened to a 30 hertz audio. I could not hear it from the laptop, only through headphones.
I pinned the quilt borders every three inches, all the way around. Then I quilted arcs between the pins. Then I trimmed up the edges. I cut 5 binding strips and sewed them together. Chris roasted the rest of the broccoli in the oven. I ate a few florets and he ate the stem pieces. Then I ironed the binding strip in half and cut off the corners. I sewed it all around the quilt. Then I pinned it around to the back. I sat on the couch with needle and thread and started finishing the binding. Chris came and sat with me to watch two episodes of Merlin. Then I listened to an audio on ageism while working on the binding. There was enough time to listen to an audio on conscious eldering. Then I put down my needle for the night. I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* Why did I worry so much about the quilting when it doesn't show? *

The hard part is over

I woke up early and drank half my water. I was so tired that I went back to bed. I slept in and did not get up until 8:50. It was too late to get to Community Roundup by 9. So I called Myra to tell her I wasn't coming. Our call got cut off when she entered the elevator.
I checked e-mail and drank the rest of the water. I was listening to an audio on geopathic stress. Apparently if there is an intersection of stress lines where you sleep, it is bad for your health. I paused the audio and got dressed. I set up my tablet in my sewing room and clicked on Skype. I called my tapping buddy. We worked on her issues today. My phone rang but I did not answer it. We finished about 11:30. Chris had just come home for lunch. Myra had called, so I called her back. She was in the market with Lacee and Katelyn. She said I could hop the bus and join them, but they were already on their way down the hill. Forgetting that it was a good time to catch the bus, I elected to stay home. I finished the audio on geopathic stress. Then I started the Day 4 tapping audios. Chris went back to work. As I listened, I did yoga and swept the floor and folded fabric. I also tapped. I made and ate breakfast. I did Sudoku.
I peeled a pomegranate and listened to an audio. Then I bundled up and went for a walk. It was a sunny day, but not warm. I heard that looking at nature is good for your eyes. So I walked up the trail, stopping at the first exercise station to work my arms. Then I continued up and over. As I was walking across the mountain, I looked down and saw a large ravine where upper housing should have been. It confused me greatly because surely I would have heard it being destroyed. I am not the most observant person in the world, but how I could I have missed something like that? So instead of going around the long way, I went down the road by the ravine. A privacy fence had been erected so I couldn't see much. When I got home, it was still there so apparently all is well.
Then I decided the time had come to quilt. I finished putting pins in the quilt where I intended to sew. I took it to my sewing room. I put green thread in the machine. I reviewed my quilt design on paper, tracing it with my hands to get the feel of the motion. Having prepared as much as I could, I sat down to quilt. I was halfway done with the first row when I noticed skipped stitches. I was three-quarters done when I realized I hadn't changed the needle back to the special one for quilting. I switched out the needle, and no more skipped stitches. I quilted up one row, pulling the fabric toward me, and quilted back the next row, pushing the fabric forward. The quilt quickly became difficult to manage. But the design had plenty of resting places in it where I could readjust my hands and smooth the fabric. Two thirds of the way across, I turned the quilt around and worked from the other end. I had to review my quilting design from that side. When it was done (the center) I decided I needed a break before doing the borders. It actually looked ok from the back. The pattern was busy enough that the quilting hardly showed.
I sat down to another audio. I made a salad, adding a piece of the soaking broccoli head. As I ate the salad, I listened to another audio from the Age without Borders summit. One speaker talked about how to get all the info your descendants need in one place in case of death or incapacitation. I took a few notes on it while I did several Sudoku puzzles.
Chris came home from work and made himself supper. I ate two kiwis. When the last audio ended, he plugged my laptop into the TV and we watched an episode of Merlin. Then he went to bed, but I stayed up to write to my blog and to wait for another skype call.
* That is one healthy looking head of broccoli. *

A little closer to free motion

I got up after Chris left for work. I drank lime water and read e-mail. I exercised and listened to an audio from the Age without Borders summit. At 10 I started listening to the tapping summit interviews. Chris came home for lunch. He wanted to go to the ROK base and get photographs taken for our visa applications. So I took a shower and got dressed. He drove us over there. We went to the second floor of the main building. There was no line. First I sat down and the man took three shots of me. Then Chris took off his glasses and he sat down to have his picture taken. We waited for pictures to come out. Chris paid the man 24,000 won. Then we went back to the car and back to our base. Terri texted me that she was going to the sauna. So I packed my sauna bag and met her there. We sat a long time, drinking water and talking. Finally I had to go for my massage appointment. We took showers there and walked home. I dropped off my wet suit and picked up some Epsom salt. Then I walked out into town. There appeared to be no one there when I arrived. I called out and the lady came out of one of the rooms, probably sleeping. She took my money, then got me a tub of hot water to soak my feet. She woke up the guy I prefer for the massages. I selected some classical music on my phone. I leaned back and relaxed during the foot soak. Then the man came out and dried my feet. He put classical music on the store speakers so I shut off my phone. I enjoyed the massage with my eyes closed. I could hear him sniffle and I remembered that he was sniffling last week too. So after the massage, I gave him some essential oil balls to help him get over his cold. Then I walked back to base. I called Myra to see what she was up to. Then I went home. I checked e-mail and put on an audio. I started a Sudoku puzzle. Chris came home from work. He said he had time to watch an episode of Merlin before he had to meet an officer from the ROK base to go out to dinner. But I did not take him up on his offer soon enough. I was distracted by the audio and the puzzle. Then Chris said there wasn't enough time. He played his game for a few minutes, then walked out to the front gate to meet the man. I did some tapping for my reluctance to free-motion quilt, then practiced with no thread on a sample, and on an unfinished quilt. I looked at more designs online. I drew something on paper and practiced the motion. I measured the spaces and made dots at the important parts. I pinned the sample in those places and quilted between the pins. Then I got out the final quilt and started pinning the important spots. But as I got to the other side, the distances did not match the edge of the center of the quilt. I heard the Facebook text sound on my laptop and stopped to answer it. I texted back and forth with Maryann for awhile. Then I remembered that the current Swanson offer expired at midnight. So I got my list of items I was running out of. I put as many as I could in my cart. But some things had to be ordered on Amazon. So I put together an Amazon order. I had to wrestle with it because one item said it had free shipping but when I put it in my cart, I was charged for shipping. So I had to select another seller. Anyway, I went back to work on the Swanson order. I had to wrestle with it, too, because it kept throwing out my citronella essential oil. Then Chris came home. It was after midnight. He smelled of garlic and beer. He was more than tipsy. I had never seen him like that. But apparently that is what is expected in Korea. He was funny and romantic. A little too much of both. I tried to get him to go to bed so I could finish my order and write my blog. It took me an hour. Finally, he went to brush his teeth and I escaped to the livingroom to finish up and go to sleep.
* Chris had his official picture taken. *

Pincushions and thumbtacks

Chris got up at 5 to work out. Later I think I heard him rustle in the closet for a suit and shirt. Then I heard him leave. I figured it was 8 and time to put out the recyclables. I made myself get up. It was only 7:45. I put on my coat and hurried the bags to the curb. I had hoped no one would see me, but someone was walking their child to school. I waved and ran my fingers through my hair and ducked back inside.
I drank lime water while reading e-mail. I found a few e-mails to unsubscribe from. I listened to an audio while exercising. Then I made and ate breakfast while listening to the first tapping audio at 10. I came across a e-mail from a lady who can't make sewing class today because it is a Korean holiday so her kids are home. I remembered Myra saying someone else isn't coming either and Dynee said she is doing something else. I made a note to bring a project for me to work on in case no one comes.
I listened to part of the second audio of the tapping summit. I had to pause it to get ready for sewing. I got dressed and packed two projects for me to work on. Chris came home for lunch and said he needed bread. I hurriedly put the ingredients in the bread machine and turned it on. I picked up my bags, put on my shoes, and walked to the chapel.
Lacee was just ahead of me, and Suzanne just behind. Ms. Hair came, and Mari dropped by. Myra had made a pin cushion too, but it was larger and flatter. I plugged in my glue gun to heat up while Mari chose the fabric and made gathering stitches. Ms. Hair made one like Myra's and Suzanne made one like mine. She and Mari left early. Evelyn made an apron with Myra's help.
I made a baby block as a sample for class next week. There was no stuffing left in our class supplies, so I walked to the Nex and bought a $3 pillow. I also checked for thumb tacks and none were there. When I got back to class, I opened the pillow to stuff the block.
Those who were left talked about going out in town. So we packed up by three and headed to Chong's car. She drove us to the market and dropped us off. Four of us went to the junk store where I found thumbtacks and heart-shaped ice cube trays. Myra and I showed Lacee and Katelyn where the fabric store was. As we walked through the market, I picked up kiwis. On the way back, we stopped at another store where I picked up pomegranates. Then we came to the corner market. I got sprouts, two kinds of lettuce, brussels sprouts, and a head of broccoli. We walked back to the base, and proceeded to the chapel where we had left things we did not want to carry into the market. From there we all headed in the same direction, peeling off to go to our individual homes. When I got home, I dropped everything and went to the bathroom. Then I put the food in the fridge, except for the broccoli. I sliced a bit off the stem end and put it in a cup of water. I tapped for all my reservations about free-motion quilting. I used the thumb tacks to secure the silicon mat to my homemade extension table.
I heated a bowl of bean soup. I ate it while looking at free-motion quilting videos. I finished the second tapping audio. Chris came home from Ash Wednesday service. He had eaten with the Protestants. I made myself a salad and we sat together to watch two episodes of Merlin. Then he went to bed. I stayed up to do a Sudoku puzzle and post to my blog.
* This is Chong's pincushion. *